As a fan of the latest breaking technologies, one of Ian Wells' biggest career challenges has been to sell services people have never heard of.
Six years ago, Mr Wells - Darome Teleconferencing's general manager for Asia-Pacific - was charged with selling voice-mail systems 'but people didn't know what it was'.
At that time he was working with VMX Supplies in Britain, which trailed the United States in its uptake of voice-mail services and lacked the pulse-tone phones needed for the technology.
His strategy was to familiarise himself with the operations of potential client companies before making his pitch.
'When you're selling something that people don't know they need, you have to know their business,' he said.
Mr Wells spent the early part of his career repairing items.
'But I didn't like fixing broken things. I like new things.' It was his interest in new technology that brought him to sell voice-mail systems and, later with Darome, teleconferencing before they became mainstream.